ingram



A. AND H. INGRAM.

CLOSURE FOR JARS, BOTT'LES, AND OTHER REGEPTACLES. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 12. 191-7.

1.324354. Patented Dee. 9,1919.

2SHEETSSHEET 1.

INGRAM.

A. AND H.

CLOSURE FOR JARS, BOTTLES, AND OTHER RECEPTACLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 12. 1917- Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEEY 2.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT orruo ALFRED INGRAM AND HARRY INGRAM, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO INGRAMS INCORPORATED, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CLOSURE FOR JARS, BOTTLES, AND OTHER RECEPTACLES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED INGRAM and HARRY INGRAM, citizens of the United States, and residents of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closures for Jars, Bottles, and Other Receptacles, of which the ing is a specification.

The invention resides more particularly in a novel cap and container, the cap being of the so-called screw type and the container having about its neck ribs to engage lugs on the skirt portion of the cap, and the whole being of such character as to permit in an efficient manner the sealing of the contain'eri by pneumatic pressure. Screw caps and containers possessing screw-threads to be engaged by the cap are very well known, ut the screw caps and containers as heretofore constructed prevent the efficient sealing of the container by pneumatic pressure.

In accordance with our invention we provide what may be called a screw-cap and a container of such nature that the container may be sealed by pneumatic pressure, and thereafter the cap may be released without destroying it and used as an ordinary screwcap until the contents of the container have been consumed. The purpose of our invention is, therefore, to produce a screw-cap and a container to coact therewith adapted to vacuum sealing and to be used, when in the hands of the consumer, in the ordinary way that a container having a screw-cap is used.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a central vertical section throughthe upper portion of a container and a cap applied thereupon embodying our lnvention, the cap being shown as loosely applied upon the container preparatory to being sealed by pneumatic pressure;

Fig. 2 is a like view of the same showing the condition of the'cap and gasket after the container has been subjected to the vacuum sealing process;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation tion of the container, the being omitted; Fig. i is a top view of the same;

Fig. 5 is an. enlarged .vertical section through one side portion of the container of the upper por- Specification of Letters Patent.

followcap and gasket Patented Dec. 9,1919.

Application filed October 12, 1917. Serial No. 196,170.

and cap and illustrates the cap as having been applied upon the container and given ust a suflicient turn to carry its lugs below the upper ends of the ribs on the container,

A a space being left at this stage of the operation between said lugs and sented in Fig. 5;

Fig. 6 is a corresponding'view and illustrates the relation of the cap and container when the container has been subjected to the vacuum chamber of a sealing machine, and Fig. 6 illustrates the cap as having moved upwardly due to the exhaust and as having been prevented from ing the container by th lugs with the ribs on the between the ribhand side of Fig. 5 being shown as closed in Fig. 6;

- Fig. 7 isa corresponding view of the same and illustrates the relation of the parts after ribs, as repree engagement of its contalner, the space the exhaust has taken place and the cap,-

. container after air has been admitted to the vacuum chamber of the sealing machine and th container has been sealed by pneumatic pressure and Fig. 8 illustrates that, due to the pneumatic pressure, the gasket has been compressed and the cap forced downwardly so that its lugs have slightly left the ribs on the container;

Fig. 9 is a corresponding view of the same and illustrates the final step that we take in sealing the container, this being, while the cap is held on the'container by pneumatic pressure, giving said cap a slight further clock-wise turn so as to carry its lugs firmly against the inclined ribs on the container;

- Fig..' 10 is a vertical section through one form of vacuum apparatus adapted for use in the pneumatic sealing of the cap upon the container, the container having a cap thereon being illustrated in the chamber of said apparatus, and a Fig. 11 is an enlarged bottom view of the cap and its gasket.

In the drawings, 10 designates the contamer. which mav be a glass bottle 11 the and lug shown at the left entirely leavcap for closing the upper end of the same and which cap will preferably be of thin sheet metal, and 12 a gasket which may be rectangular in cross-section and seats within a recess 13 formed around the mouth of the container and in the outer edge portions thereof. The gasket 12 normally is greater in depth than the recess 13 so that initially the upper edges of the gasket stand materially above the upper edge of the container.

The container 10 is formed on the exterior of its neck portion 11 with three inclined ribs 15, these ribs preferably being of the same inclination and of the same length and overlapping one another in series at their end portions to a limited extent only, as we illustrate in Fig. 3, this being a special feature we utilize in carrying out our invention. At the lower end of the neck 11 of the container an annular shoulder 'or beading 16 may be provided, as usual.

The cap 11 comprises a top 18 and a skirt portion depending from the edges thereof and comprising a plain upper flange or section 19 and an outwardly set lower section or flange 20, which is formed with three equi-distant inwardly pressed or extended lugs 21, the purpose of these lugs being, as will appear hereinafter, to engage the ribs 15. The inside outer corner portions of the cap receive the gasket 12 and the assembled cap and gasket will be applied downwardly upon the neck of the contamer.

Upon the application of the cap 11 to the container, said cap is inserted thereupon and turned to carry its lugs 21 below the upper ends of the ribs 15 and beyond the vertical plane of the lower ends of said ribs in series, so that said lugs will be within the large vertical space below the upper portions of the ribs, the cap and lugs being thus left free to have vertical movement downwardly without said lugs striking the lower portions of the ribs below them, and thereupon the container with its cap is placed within the vacuum chamber 22 of a vacuunr sealing machine, as we represent in Fig. 10, and the perforated plunger'23, preferably having a rubber or soft facing "24, is lowered in near relation tothe top of the cap but without at this time pressing on the cap. Air is then exhausted from the chamber 22 and container 10, the exhaust taking place through a suitable valved pipe 25 leading to air exhausting apparatus, not shown. During the exhausting of the air from the chamber 22 and container 10 the cap 11 will move upwardly. as is customary in vacuum sealing, and in this instance the .cap will ascend from'the position in which it is shown in Fig. 5 to that in which it is illustrated in Fig. 6, and at this time the lugs 21 will, by engaging the upper portions. of the ribs 15 above them, prevent the cap from leaving the container, the lugs and ribs at such time serving as cooperating stops to'arrest the cap on its upward movement and maintain said cap centralized loosely over the container. After the exhaust has taken place the cap is pressed downwardly and turned clock-wise to engage the lugs 21 with the lower portions of the ribs 15 or to the position in which the cap is illustrated in Fig. 7. Thereafter the valved pipe is closed and atmospheric air permitted to flow into the chamber 22 through a suitable valved pipe 26 to complete the sealing of-the container by pneumatic pressure. The effect of the pneumatic pressure and further pressure of the plunger 23 will be to dish the top of the cap and draw said cap very tightly against the gasket 12 and effect the sealing of. the container along said gasket. The compression.

of the gasket 13 will cause the cap to move downwardly to a slight extent on the neck of the container or to the position shown in Fig. 8 as compared with the position of the cap shown in Fig. 7. and as a result of this we give the cap a slight further clock-wise turn to move the lugs 21 farther downwardly along the ribs 15 and thus bind the cap in position and against accidental displacement, the cap being held both by pneumatic pressure and by the engagement of the lugs 21 with the ribs 15. \Ve will provide the vacuum chamber 22 with any convenient means for pressing the cap downwardly upon the container and turning said cap, and we illustrate in Fig. 10the plunger 23 having a soft face 2% and connected with a vertical rod 27 on whose upper end may be provided a handle 28 for rotating the rod and plunger. The rod 27 may be pressed downwardly to carry the plunger against the top of the cap and then turned clock-wise so as to screw the cap downwardly upon the bottle neck or cause said cap to carry its lugs 21' farther down the ribs 15. until the proper binding action has been effected.

e do not, of course. limit our invention to the use of the special apparatus illustrated in Fig. 10. lVe have described hereinbefore one method of handling the cap and container in accomplishing the sealing of the container by pneumatic pressure, but the result may be effected by a different handling or manipulation of the cap and container, and for illustration we would say that when the container is in the vacuum chamber 22 and the exhaust has taken place, the plunger 23 may be depressed upon the top of the cap with sufficient force to compress the gasket to the condition illustrated in Fig. 8, said plunger at the same time being rotated to turn the cap so that the lugs 21 thereof will engage the lower portions of the ribs 15, thus at one operation accomplishing the final sealing of the container from its exhaust condition shown in Fig. 6 to its final condition shown in Fig. 9. If the'gasket 12 should be of rather .stifi material, we would follow the practice just described, since greater force may be applied upon the gasket through the plunger 23 than is exerted by pneumatic pressure alone.

The advantage of sealing a receptacle by pneumatic pressure is well understood, and

in this instance by the c0nstruction pre-' sented, we are enabled by pneumatic pressure to seal a container or receptacle having hear such relation to the lugs 21, that said,

lugs ride along the lower side of the ribs when the cap is turned to move downwardly on the container and are caused to move upwardly on .the upper side of said rib's during the turning of the cap to effect its removal, the ribs then acting as wedges against said lugs to force the cap upwardly in opposition to the force of the pneumatic pressure or other power which may be holdmg the cap down. In accordance with our invention the ribs 15 not only cooperate with the lugs 21 in the securing of the cap on the receptacle but also coiiperate with said lugs in lifting the cap off from the receptacle. It will readily be seen that each lug 21 in series rides along the lower side of one rib 15 during the application of the cap and along the upper side of the next adjacent rib during the removal of the cap, and the result of this is that even though the receptacle .is sealed by pneumatic pressure, the cap may be conveniently removed without puncturing or otherwise injuring it.

The arrangement of the ribs 15 and lugs 21 hereinbefore described not only permits the pneumatic sealing of the container, but affords a further advantage in that should the gasket be of a tacky nature and bind the cap and container together or cause them to adhere, the cap may be turned horizontally to a suflicient extent to efiect the breaking away of the gasket from the container or from the cap before said cap is caused to move upwardly on the ribs 15. If the cap and container should be fastened together by the tacky nature of the gasket, it might be diflicult to move the cap directly upwardly, whereas under such condition the cap could be turned horizontally without particular effort, and in our arrangement of the ribs and lugs the cap may be turned horizontally for a definite distance before the lugs 21 commence to ride upwardly on the upper surfaces of the ribs 15.

We have described hereinbefore in detail a closure embodying our invention, but we do not limit our invention to all of the details of form and construction shown and described. One of the chief objects of the invention is to provide a container and closure of the screw-cap type capable of being effectually sealed in a vacuumsealingmachine, the air being first exhausted from the container in the chamber of said machine and then atmospheric air being admitted to said chamber, and a plunger being employed to depress the cap and turn the same to carry its lugs under the ribs 15. The ribs 15 are shown in the drawings as slightly overlapping at their adjoining ends, but this detail is not necessary whenthe scaling is effected in a vacuum chamber containing the plunger 23, since the plunger 23 may be utilized to prevent the undue upward movement of the cap at the time of the exhaust instead of relying upon the upper portions of the ribs 15 to prevent such movement. In the absence ofthe plunger 23 being in proper position at the time of the exhaust, the upper portions of the ribs 15 may, as hereinbefore described, prevent the undue upward movement of the cap, but when the plunger 23 is employed and given its proper position,

it may be utilized, in lieu of the upper portions of the ribs 15, to retain the 'cap in due relation to the container at the time of exhaust, and when the plunger 23 is employed it will not be necessary that the adjoining ends of the ribs 15 overlap each other, since then. the plunger may depress the cap downwardly with the lugs 21 passing between the adjacent ends of the ribs and thereafter-be utilized to turn said cap so as to carry the lugs 21 below the lower portions of said ribs in the manner hereinbefore explained. The construction and arrangement of the features of the closure will depend somewhat upon the manner in which it may be desired to manipulate the parts thereof while within the vacuum chamber of a sealing machine, but in every instance the construction will be substantially as shown so as to make it possible to effect thepneumatic sealing of the container in a vacuum sealing machine. The ribs 15 are to be distinguished from continuous screw-threads, and preferably only three of theseribs will be made use of,.so that there may be no difficulty in manipulating the cap in the ways hereinbefore described. We have referred to the cap and container as being of the screw-cap type, and

this is because of the fact that the cap has same horizontal plane and co-act simultaneously in their engagement with the ribs 15. lVhile the closure may be classed as being of the screw-cap type it, as a matter of fact, dispenses with the ordinary screw-thread cap to engage a screw-thread formed on the neck of a container.

\Vhat we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A container having a neck provided with correspondingly inclined laterally spaced-apart independent ribs and free surfaces below said ribs defining open spaces, in combination with a sealing gasket and a cap to firmly engage said gasket with the container and comprising a top and a skirt or flange adapted to closely encompass the upper portion of said neck and having laterally spaced-apart inldependent lugs posi-' tioned to be moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces on the depression of said skirt and thereafter on and by the turning of said skirt to be carried below and into engagemei'it with the bottom surface ofthe lower portions of said ribs, and said ribs at adjacent end portions being correspondingly inclined and freely spaced apart so that during the removal of the capthe said lugs may move from the bottom surface of the ribs they engaged and ride upon the upper surface of the adjacent ribs in series.

2. A container havinga neck provided with a series of three correspondingly inclined laterally spaced-apart independent ribs and free surfaces below said ribs defining open spaces, in combination with a sealing gasket and a cap to firmly engage said gasket with the container and comprising a top and a skirt or flange adapted to closely encompass the upper portion of said neck and having a series of three laterally spacedapart independent lugs positioned to be moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces on the depression of said skirt and thereafter on and by the turning movement of the skirt to be carried below and into engagement with the bottom surface of the lower portions of said ribs, and said ribs at adjacent end portions being correspondingly inclined and freely spaced apart so that during the removal of the cap the said lugs may move from the bottom surface of the ribs they engaged and ride upon ceive a gasketand on its side walls with correspondlngly inclined laterally spaced-apart the upper surface of the adjacent ribs in series.

3. A container having a neck provided at its upper edge with an annular recess to reindependent ribs and free surfaces below said rlbs defining open spaces, 1n combination With a sealing gasket 1n sald recess 1 ,seaaee V and initially extending above the lip of the container, and a cap to firmly engage said gasket with the container and comprising a top and a skirt or flange adapted to closely encompass the upper portion of said neck and having laterally spaced-apart independent lugs positioned to be moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces on the depression of said skirt and thereafter on and by the turning of said skirt to be *arried below and into engagement with the bottom surface of the lower portions of said ribs, and said ribs at adjacent end portions being correspondingly inclined and freely spaced apart so that during the removal of the cap the said lugs may move from the bottom surface of the ribs they engaged and ride upon the upper surface of the adjacent ribs in series.

at. A container having a neck formed in its upper outer edge portion with an annular recess to receive a gasket and on its side walls with correspondingly inclined laterally spaced-apart independent ribs and free surfaces below said ribs defining open spaces,

in combination with a sealing gasket in said recess and initially extending above the lip of the container, and a cap to firmly engage said gasket with the container and comprising a top and a skirt or flange adapted to closely encompass the upper portion of said neck and having laterally spaced-apart independent lugs positioned to be moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces on the depression of said skirt and thereafter on and by the turning of said skirt to be carried below and into engagement with the bottom surface of the lower portions of said ribs, and said ribs at adjacent end portions being correspondingly inclined and freely spaced apart so that during the removal of the cap the said lugs may move from the bottom surface of the ribs they engaged and ride upon the upper surface of the adjacent ribs in series.

5. A container having a neck provided on its side walls with correspondingly inclined independent ribs and free surfaces below said ribs defining open spaces, said ribs slightly overlapping one another in series, in combination with a sealing gasket, and a cap to firmly engage said gasket with the container and comprising a top and a skirt or flange adapted to closely encompass the upper portion of said neck and having laterally spaced-apart independent lugs positioned .to be moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces on the de pression of said skirt and thereafter on and by the turning of said skirt to be carried below and into engagement with thebottom surface of the lower portions of said ribs,

and said ribs at adjacent end portions being correspondingly inclined and freely spaced apart so that during the removal of the cap the said lugs may move from the bottom surface of the ribs they engaged and ride upon the upper surface of the adjacent ribs in series.

6. A container having a-neck provided in its upper outer edge portion with an annular recess to receive a gasket and on its side walls below said recess with a series ofthree correspondingly inclinedv laterally spacedapart independent ribs and free surfaces below, said ribs defining open spaces, in combination with a sealing gasket in said recess v and initially extending above the lip of the container, and'a cap to firmly engage said gasket 'with the container andcomprising a top and askirt'or flange adapted to closely encompassthe upper portion of said neck I and having a. series of three laterally spaced- I as apartindependent lugs positioned to be -moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces on the depression of said skirt and thereafter on and by the turningmovement of the skirt to be carried below and into engagement with the bottom surface ofh the lower portions of saidoribs, and said ribs at adjacent endportions being correspondingly inclined and freely spaced apart so that'during the removal of the cap the said*lugs may move from the bottom surface of the ribs they engaged and ride with correspondingly inclinedlaterally spaced-apart independent ribs and free surfacesbelow said ribs defining'open spaces, in combination with a sealing gasket and a cap to firmly engage saidogasket with the container and comprising a top and a skirt or flange adapted to closely encompass the upper portion of said neck and having later- -ally spaced-apart independent lugs .positioned tobe moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces on the depression of said skirt and thereafter on and with cap of the adjacent ribs by the turning of said skirt to be carried below and into engagement with the bottom surface of the lower portions of said ribs, said skirt being of sheet metal and said lugs thereon being on the same horizontal plane and consisting of portions of said metal bent inwardly to form the lugs, and said ribs at adjac nt end portions being correspondingly incl 5 med and freely spaced apart sothat during the removal of the cap the said lugs may move from the bottom surface of the'ribs they engaged and ride upon the upper surface of the adjacent ribs in series.

8. A sealed package from which the air has been substantially-exhausted comprising a glass container having a neck provided correspondingly inclined laterally spaced-apart independent ribs and free surfaces below said ribs defining open spaces, in combination With a sealing gasket, and a firmly engaging said gasket with the containerand maintaining the partial vacuum therein and comprising a top and a skirt or flange closely encompassing the upper portion of said neck and having laterally spaced-apart independent lugs engaging the bottom surface of the lower portions of said ribs at the lower side thereof, said skirt being of sufficient depth to permit said lugs" to be moved downwardly below the horizontal plane of the upper portions of said ribs and into said spaces after the air has been eX- hausted from the container and thereafter on and by a rotary movement of said skirt to pass into the aforesaid engagement with the lower portion of said ribs, and said ribs at adjacent endportions being correspondingly inclined and freely spaced apart so that during the removal of the cap the said lugs may 

